Turkish have a saying "Eat sweet, talk sweet" and this briefly defines Turkish desserts and manner of speaking. Noone can deny Turkish "sweet" speaking skills and definitely noone can resists Turkish desserts. I made these rose-shaped cookies for Valentines day back in February for Lithuanian bloggers' magazine CLOUDS, but decided eventually to share it on my blog as they are great for any occasion or just when you feel like ready for some treat.

Cacao rose cookies

makes about 20 cookies

What you need:

100g butter

100 ml sunflower seed oil

100ml natural yogurt

1 cup semolina

4 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp cacao powder

300g flour

a handful of almonds

Syrup:

1 ½ cup sugar

2 cups water

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cinamon stick

What you have to do:

In a bowl mix soft butter, oil, yogurt, semolina and sugar until all combined. Add baking powder, vanilla sugar, cacao, flour. Knead until you get soft bowl of dough.

Preheat oven up to 180C. Line baking tray with some parchment.

Divide the dough into 3 parts. Roll each piece of dough into a thin circle. Use a glass to cut four rounds. Arrange these rounds next to each other but let the sides overlap a bit. Roll these rounds into one roll and cut it in half. You will end up with two rose-shaped cookies. Add one almond into the middle and arrange them on a baking tray. Shape the rest of the cookies.

Bake cookies in the oven for 15 minutes until they are firm and are turning golden brown on the sides.

Meanwhile, prepare the syrup. In a bowl add sugar and water. Bring it all to boil and cook for 5 minutes, then add lemon juice, cinamon stick and cook for 5 more minutes.

Arrange baked cookies in a dish with sides. Pour over with syrup and leave them to cool for about 2 hours. Serve and enjoy!